We may never get perfect with some things but it is only fair to keep trying, someday our luck will shine ✨

It will amaze you to know that ever since I started learning how to sew and have been making different types of designs, I have not once sewn a collar shirt. I always find it difficult to do, and when I tried my first attempt, making the collar ruined the shirt. Ever since then, I have never tried it again.

Shirts are one of those outfits we find very easy to wear; you can wear them fashionably with a pant or short.Some of my friends have asked me to sew them a two-piece outfit before, which consists of a shirt and a short, but I often turn them down because I am not so confident about making the collar sit nicely on the shirt. A nice collar is often the beauty of shirts.

A few days ago, I admired a shirt on one of my friends. I even went ahead and asked her to allow me to access the shirt. I looked at it critically and thought about how to learn and make something similar.

Although there are so many tutorials on the internet, sometimes I try to avoid them because some of the tutorials are not detailed enough, and if one follows such a guide, we will never get it right.

While I was home yesterday and having completed my work on the garden with my sister, I decided to give this another try to sew a shirt with a collar and see if it would be better and different from the first one I ruined and don't wish for anyone to laugh at me so it never made it to hive😂.

I took out my fabric and pattern to start work. I totally understand the benefits of working with paper patterns first; they help me eliminate a lot of errors in my cutting and even in the sewing.
Here I made a shirt pattern using my measurements, adding some extra allowances at the front for the button holes.

I went ahead and stitched the paper pattern in order to better understand what I was doing.

The pattern was now transferred from paper to my fabric. Having cut the fabric My serger machine was used to secure the edges from fraying.
The stitching commenced.

Now, the difficult part was always the pattern. I needed to create a pattern with quality curves that would sit well around the neck.

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I made a pattern that I felt would serve such a purpose well. I cut out the collar stand since that was the only part I needed. The full collar can be cut for other designs, but not for what I was making today.

Having done that, the paper collar pattern I had created was then used to cut my fabrics. Here is the collar; I added a touch of black to it.

Next, I have sewn the collar and secured the edges, then moved on to attach it to my clothes.

A simple sleeve will do for my shirt which is not a problem, I have cut that too and attacked it nicely to the armhole.

This wasn't something I was expecting; it came out really neat and nice. Although the button allowance turned out to be smaller than what I had wanted, the shirt was good enough for me and I can always correct that shortcoming in my subsequent dresses.

I feel so happy that next time I can make a shirt for anyone who comes around with more confidence. Truly, the experience of the years of sewing is now evident in the clothes I make. Been able to imagine analyze an outfit on someone and recreate it is a a positive breaking point. Some clothing designs can be so difficult that it takes some critical thinking before we can recreate them.

Gradually, I am beginning to learn the things I could not do in fashion before and can now make them chosing to give this a trial is the best thing that has happened to me this day

Thank you so much for stopping by and let me know about what you think of my shirt.